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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap.
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Yesterday we wrapped up Paul's letter to the church at Rome. And today we jump back into Luke's account of the early church in the Book of Acts, which covers a lot of Paul's actions that take place in between and behind the scenes of the letters he's writing. The last time we were in Acts, Paul and the others narrowly escaped a riot started by a local silversmith who was upset that their ministry resulted in people buying fewer idols. Today he leaves Ephesus, and he and a handful of other disciples, including Luke, pop around Europe and Asia en route to deliver the financial support to Jerusalem. Luke tells us a story about what happens one Sunday when the church at Troas is gathered to eat and hear Paul preach. There's a young man named Eutychus in the crowd. He's probably in his late teens or early twenties. At some point he's sitting in a window. Maybe he wants to get some fresh air, because they've been listening to Paul talk all day and it's nearly midnight and they finished off the last of the coffee at 8pm but the fresh air doesn't cut it. Utica sends Paul a clear message that it's time to wrap it up by falling asleep and plummeting three stories to his death. But Paul is like, nice try, buddy. I've still got two points left in my sermon. You're not going anywhere. And he raises him from the dead. Then they all go back upstairs and Paul talks until the sun comes up and they eat some breakfast before they leave on the next few legs of their journey. By the way, if visual aids are helpful for you, check out the map of Paul's third missionary journey that we've linked to in the show notes. While they're in Ephesus, Paul tells the people that in every single city where they stop, the Holy Spirit reminds him that imprisonment and affliction await him. He's on his way to deliver the support to Jerusalem, where the persecution is far more intense than in a lot of other cities he's visited. But God is the One who gave him this ministry, so he'll continue to receive this gift and calling, even though it comes with persecution and trials. He expects to die soon. So he tells them he'll never see them again, but that honestly, he doesn't really need to, because he's already preached the fullness of the Gospel to them. They already have the best of everything he could ever offer them. Anyway, he reminds them of two major things before he leaves. First, he tells them to keep a close watch on what they believe, because people will try to lead them astray, and not just outsiders, but even people who are in their church now. And second, he reminds them that he's been generous with his time and his life and his heart. And he encourages them to be generous too. They continue on toward Jerusalem. And at their stop in Tyre, Paul gets a strange message from the people. We already know from 2022 that the Holy Spirit is leading Paul to Jerusalem. But 21:4 says through the Spirit, they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. Huh? Is the Holy Spirit talking out of both sides of his mouth? Here's what lots of scholars think is happening in this scenario. The Holy Spirit has revealed to others what he has already revealed to Paul, that things are not going to go well for him in Jerusalem. However, the people think this is a warning more than a fact. So they take what God has revealed and add their own fears and emotions to it and try to deter Paul from going. When in fact, Paul probably sees it as a confirmation of what God has already revealed. So it's not a deterrent, it's a directive. One of their next stops is Caesarea, which has a lot of prior connections for us. This is where Peter first preached the Gospel to the Gentiles after having his vision on a rooftop. This is also where our friend Philip the Evangelist lives. He was one of the seven men appointed to care for the widows in chapter six. And he's also the one who rebuked Simon the Magician and explained Scripture to the Ethiopian eunuch. In chapter eight, Philip has four unmarried daughters who all have the gift of prophecy. And while Paul is in town, they're visited by another prophet named Agabus. Agabus does a sign act showing Paul how he'll be bound and delivered to the Gentiles in Jerusalem. This is a repeat of what happened in Tyra, where the people take the message of God and add their own emotion to it. They beg Paul not to go. But again, this all only serves as confirmation for him. He knows he can't outrun God's plan. So, next stop, Jerusalem. Shortly after they get there, they meet with Jacob, James, the brother of Jesus, and tell him about all the Gentiles who believe the Gospel. Then Jacob tells Paul, that's awesome. I have some good news and some bad news. Good news. There are loads of Jews here who have believed too. Bad news. There are a lot of rumors about you here that are not winning you any fans. Ever since the Jerusalem Council where we decided Gentiles didn't have to convert to Judaism and obey our laws, people are saying that you're telling the Jews to disregard those laws too. So here's what you need to do in order to get them to simmer down and be open to hearing the truth. There are four men who are under a vow, so if you join them in that vow, it will probably soften people's opinions of you a bit. By the way, Jacob is likely referencing the Nazarite vow, which is probably the same vow Paul took while he was living in Corinth. We'll link to more info on that in the show. Notes Paul has always been willing to lay down his rights to advance the gospel, so he does it again here, joining these four men in their vow so that the locals can see he's not opposed to Jews keeping Jewish traditions. When the week of the vow is almost up, some Jews see him in the temple and start spreading rumors that he had brought a Gentile into the temple, defiling it, which was an act punishable by death. They grab Paul, drag him out of the temple, beat him, and begin to riot. Things only settle down when a local leader, the tribune, arrests him and probably saves his life in the process. It becomes clear that the tribune has him confused with someone else, but when he realizes Paul is an educated Roman citizen, he agrees to let Paul speak to the people. Paul recounts what has happened to him, speaking to the Jews in Hebrew. They're with him right up until he says God told him to share the Gospel with the Gentiles. As soon as he says that, they start to riot again and demand he be killed. The tribune brings him back to the barracks so he can be examined by flogging, which is an ancient version of torture interrogation. But Paul reminds the soldier that he can't beat him because he's a Roman citizen. They keep him overnight, then interrogate him in the morning while Paul is speaking. The next morning, he accidentally disrespects the high priest, so he apologizes for it. We see Paul practicing what he preached in his Letter to the Corinthians. He's humbly submitting to authority, showing respect for the high priest. Then, as the conversation continues, Paul realizes that some of these guys are Pharisees like him, and some are Sadducees. These two groups have a few things in common, but disagree in one major area, the resurrection of the dead. So Paul, being super clever, uses this to his advantage. He crafts his response in such A way that it takes the focus off their problem with him and puts it on their problem with each other. The Pharisees take his side and Paul gets carted off to prison for another night. But he's not alone. God shows up in his jail cell and says, you're not going to die here. You've told the truth about me here and you're going to have to do it again in Rome. This is a timely word from God because at the same time, 40 plus people have arranged to go on a hunger strike until someone kills Paul. Paul's nephew hears and tips him off and fills in the tribune too. The Tribune orders 470 soldiers and 70 horses to take Paul back to Caesarea. At the time, There were only 1,000 soldiers in Jerusalem, so this is almost half their army. They deliver Paul by night to Governor Felix. My God. Shot was in all the nuances of Paul's arrest and survival. In order for all this to line up like it did, Paul had to have the rare combination of dual citizenship, speak Hebrew and Greek, be a knowledgeable Pharisee, and even be mistaken for an Egyptian. When I zoom out, I see God lining everything up here from before Paul was born. Just like he said to work it all together so that the gospel would be advanced. Paul's not done sharing the gospel yet. Just because he's in prison, his ministry hasn't been thwarted. There's more yet to come. And God has always been in every detail and it's not even hard for him. He has infinite power and infinite attention span and can handle every kind of complexity and nuance imaginable. God isn't just in the grand scheme of things, he's also in the tiny scheme of things. And in all the schemes of all the things, he's where the joy is.
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We're about to wrap a trip through the Bible and if this is your first time completing that, that goal, may I suggest something for you to think about and pray about? Lots of people end up here because they had a goal to read through the Bible. That was certainly my goal the first time I did this reading plan. But let me encourage you to have a better goal than I did. If reading through the Bible is the goal, you might be inclined to just check the box and stop after your first trip through. But listen to me, this is not a box to check. This is air to breathe. As Christ followers, one of our goals should be to pursue a deeper daily relationship with God through continual study of His Word for the rest of our lives. This is daily bread you can always do the same reading, plan and recapping with us again next year. It's what I've done for years and plan to do until I die. And if you want to go deeper with us next year, we've built out.
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Some tools to help you with that.
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For instance, if you struggle in prayer like I do, we've got our second daily podcast to help you pray through the Bible in a year. It goes right along with our reading plan. It's called the Bible Kneecap like kneeling in Prayer, and it's available to our recaptains at the Bible Kneecap tier. You can hear a free sample at our website if you click on the kneecap link. Or maybe you want some tools to help you dig deeper into study on your own or to discuss what you're learning with your friends who are doing TBR together. If that's you, check out our daily study guide and our weekly discussion guide in our web store. Don't get me wrong, crossing this finish line is a big deal, but we're trying to put tools in your hands to help you stay engaged beyond just the finish line of this year's trip through scripture. We're glad you're here and we love for you to stick around with us for next year and invite your friends to join us. There's more joy in doing this together. All the info you need for recaptains and our store is on our website, thebiblerecap.com or you can find the links in the show notes.